Town, county, state and federal-level elected officials can support the sustainable management of the state’s private forest land resource through their policy actions. Although most elected officials do not have formal training in forest resource management issues, they formulate policy that affects private forest land and their constituents either own forest land or benefit from the wise management of other private forest owners. Elected officials are increasingly called to balance the conflicting interests of people advocating for specific outcomes. These outcomes often affect the ability of private forests to simultaneously accomplish the objectives of ownership while providing innumerable benefits to others simply because their communities are in or near private forest lands.
ForestConnect provides a variety of resources for elected officials. The resources here will complement the variety of other resources available through other programs of Cornell University and through local offices of Cornell Cooperative Extension. Specific resources available to elected officials include:

• Educational materials that will help them understand the issues that surround sustainable forest management.
• Direct contact information for their local office of Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Newspaper articles and press releases that address forestry issues in New York
• A calendar of workshops and events that illustrate the topics of concern to forestry stakeholders and that allow for direct interaction with their clientele.
• Input of research topics that can be considered within the research process of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
• Linkages to other organizations that support the needs of elected officials